There are
several people around the United States who
have speech disorders. These people suffer
from social segregation and are filtered out
of mainstream society due to their outward
difference. This can create problems socially,
physically, and scholastically. Although we
would like to think of the world as a place
that accepts people for all their differences,
everyone knows that this is not true. Therefore,
it is important that you take care of any
speech problems you encounter. Facial
exercises can help
you with this. Another thing that you might
want to try are facial concepts and facial
flex products. If none of these things work,
go to a speech therapist.
There are a few causes of speech impediments.
One cause is apraxia of speech, or verbal
apraxia, which is a sequencing problem. Sound
clusters, such as "str" are reduced
to just "s", and long words are
rarely spoken the same way twice. In fact,
some syllables of long words are omitted at
times.
Certain people with this problem may learn
to speak in short words as a way of hiding
their difficulty. Speech is the physical
act of producing sounds. There are four major
categories of problems. One cause is a physical
abnormality, such as a dental gap due to missing
teeth or a gap between teeth. Some lisps are
an example of this. Cleft palates and cleft
lips can also result in speech that sounds
different.
Two of the largest causes of language problems
are head injury, such as from car accidents,
and strokes. Other causes also occur. Depending
on where in the brain the injury occurred,
problems understanding language and difficulty
expressing oneself may result. A person could
receive long directions and follow them, but
not say he needs a piece of equipment.
Most people have occasional difficulty words
not being able to come out, although you might
know what they are. If this becomes severe,
it should be investigated further. Dysarthria
of speech sounds slurred. It comes from a
weakness of various muscles. A fourth cause
is idiopathic, or due to unknown causes. Word-finding
problems are a special example of difficulty
expression.
Some people
stutter, which is charming to some (depending
on your point of view.) Research has often
shown genetic components and physical differences
in the brains of stutterers. Other people
believe there can be a psychological component,
as when a person starts stuttering when feeling
under a lot of stress or after a traumatic
event.
In addition, there could be people with poor
executive functioning, such as time management
and sequencing skills. (This could include
setting priorities, getting places on time,
etc.) Math skills, both in basic operations
like adding, and in time and money skills,
can be affected by head injuries.
Speech-language pathologists have the expertise
to diagnose
and treat these problems. They may work closely
with your doctor, and often require a prescription
from him before working with a client.
